European armed forces still remain predominantly white, male organizations; their societies, however, are becoming more diverse and older. How will these armed forces be able to cope with this challenge? In order to answer this question, in the first semester of 2017, a group of scholars working within the framework of the European Defense Agency conducted an online survey among international experts in human and social sciences, defense managers, policymakers, and journalists specialized in defense issues. The aim of the survey, which followed a previous survey among young people on the attractiveness of the military as a job, was to measure their opinions and ask their suggestions concerning possible ways for increasing diversity in European armed forces. This paper presents some of the results of this multinational online survey.The unique feature of the study is that it is forward-looking and international: experts from various NATO and EU countries were asked how Defense organizations could deal with future challenges of demographic characteristics. The study, therefore, adds to our understanding of possible solutions for ensuring increased diversity in armed forces.

The purpose was to examine relationships between individual characteristics, leadership, group cohesion, and risk and safety attitudes among Swedish conscripts (N = 389). The longitudinal questionnaire study revealed positive associations between safety-specific leadership and safety attitudes, while safety skepticism and leadership promoting risk taking were associated with stronger attitudes of necessary risk taking. Attitudes of unnecessary risk taking, on the other hand, were negatively related to safety-specific leadership and group cohesion, but positively associated with safety fatalism and leadership promoting risk taking. Decreases in safety attitudes were found between basic and unit training. The results highlight the importance of a balanced leadership.

Military activities inevitably include an element of calculated risk taking, while at the same time the unnecessary taking of risks must be minimized. Within the context of the specific mission and situation, a number of factors relating to demographic variables, traits and beliefs may influence individual inclinations towards risk behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between such factors and individual risk propensity. Questionnaire data were gathered from two samples of Swedish soldiers and officers (N = 169) under contract for international missions. Data were analyzed using regression and cluster analyses. Our results show that demographic variables as well as traits and safety values constitute important explanatory factors of individual variations in risk propensity and sensation seeking. Men demonstrated a more skeptical view of safety measures and a higher risk propensity than women. Individuals with a higher degree of risk propensity and sensation seeking tendencies seem to be characterized by a lack of deliberation as well as a skeptical attitude towards safety issues. Furthermore, different “risk profiles” could be identified based on variations in risk propensity, impulsivity and safety values. The results highlight relevant aspects for identifying functional as well as non-functional risk takers. The implications should be of interest for recruiting processes as well as for training and leadership education.

Issues concerning risks in the military have gained increased attention within the Swedish Armed Forces, particularly relating to the new focus on an all voluntary force participating in international missions. Military activities inevitably include an element of calculated risk-taking, while at the same time the unnecessary taking of risks must be minimized. Within the context of the specific mission and situation, a number of factors relating to demographic variables, traits and beliefs may influence individual inclinations towards risk behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between such factors and individual risk propensity. Data were collected from two samples of Swedish soldiers and officers. Examining demographic variables, negative safety values and risk propensity were found to decrease with age, while men demonstrated a more sceptical view of safety measures and a higher risk propensity than women. The trait known as lack of deliberation, reflecting an inability to think ahead and foresee consequences, was positively related to risk propensity. A more sceptical view of safety was shown to be associated with a higher sense of personal invincibility and together with lack of deliberation predicted variations in danger-seeking scores. The distinction between functional and non-functional risk-taking is discussed on the basis of the relationships found in the study. Implications for recruitment to the military as well as for training and leadership are suggested, emphasizing the need for military leaders to balance their leadership in terms of safety-oriented and risk-promoting behaviours.

The Swedish Armed forces has been transformed to an all-volunteer force where the first soldiers began their employment in May 2011. The number of applicants has been satisfying but experiences from other countries indicate that it has been easier to recruit soldiers than to retain them. The aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting the job satisfaction of soldiers. Twenty-one informants who had been employed as soldiers for about a year participated in the study. They came from all three fighting services (army, air force, navy). The data was analyzed according to a grounded theory approach.

The results show that the soldiers’ job satisfaction is related to their inner motivation to join the armed forces. The inner motivation can be divided into: (a) primarily searching for a job and a steady income, (b) a great interest in the armed forces and military tasks, and (c) an aim for a certain education/position. Factors that appear to affect the job satisfaction are, for example: co-workers, salary and experienced meaningfulness. Another result from the study is that strategic decisions at the Head Quarter level that involve unexpected readjustments at the local level tend to have a negative effect on of the soldiers’ motivation and job satisfaction because the leaders at the local units are poorly prepared to handle the changes. This will be more thoroughly discussed during the presentation.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether constructive or destructive leadership behaviors are the best predictors of soldiers’ experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. Data were collected among 300 employed soldiers using a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about the immediate leader’s constructive and destructive leadership, meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. The results show that the constructive leadership factor inspiration and motivation was the best predictor of both experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. None of the destructive leadership factors gave a significant contribution to the models although both the passive and active forms of destructive leadership showed a weak to moderate significant, negative correlation with experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction.

International operations have become one of the main tasks for the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). The SAF and Swedish National Defence College organize annual international staff exercises with the purpose of training officers to carry out effective staff work. This study analyzed a staff exercise using Edmondson's team learning model in a military setting. The model was developed by including group cohesion. As defensive routines are a threat to team learning behavior, the possible presence of these was examined. The results indicate that team leader coaching is crucial to support all the variables in the model. The added variable of group cohesion contributed with insights on how the commander used task solving to create group cohesion. Some examples of defensive routines were also revealed but there seemed to be challenges in identifying such routines in this type of exercise setting.

The critical dependence of armed forces on teams carrying out tasks in a continuously changing, uncertain and often dangerous environment, raises questions about how to better understand factors that enable or hamper effective team learning. So far there is no developed field of research into team learning in the Swedish Armed Forces. This is the first of several studies within the Swedish Armed Forces to explore and gain a better understanding of team learning. In this first study of team learning we followed a military staff exercise. The theoretical base in this study is Amy Edmondson’s theoretical model for studying and analyzing team learning. The model consists of context support, team leader coaching, team psychology safety and team learning behavior. The results of this study supports the theoretical model of team learning and describe factors that are important for creating good conditions for team learning behavior.

Sweden is one of the most gender equal countries in the world, but this is not reflected in the representation of women in the Swedish Armed Forces. Women have increased in both numbers and proportion since the transformation to an all-volunteer force in 2010, but the gender distribution is still skewed and women tend to drop out of the selection process for basic military training to a greater extent than men. The 2014 White Paper emphasizes that the Swedish Armed Forces should actively work to increase the proportion of women at all levels in order to achieve a more even gender distribution. This article describes a project that aims to increase the proportion of women who start basic military training in the Swedish Armed Forces. The project aims to identify successful methods and activities that motivate women and optimize their chances of passing the admission test, and basic military training. Women who passed the first step in the selection process for basic military training were contacted by the project. Women who were contacted and participated in activities were positive, stayed longer in the selection process, and looked forward to beginning basic military training.

With the demographic change taking place all over European societies, the number of young people entering the labor market will decline. As a result, European Defense organizations will likely face severe recruitment and retention problems and find themselves in ever more direct competition with the private sector to attract the best candidates. To offset the shrinking base of recruitment, they will have to become more attractive to potential recruits and to increase the number of candidates in previously under-represented segments (for example, women and ethnic-cultural minorities). The paper presents selected results from an online survey carried out between Spring 2015 and Spring 2016 in five countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland) among samples of young people. The paper presents how young people from these countries in general, view their armed forces, what their job expectations are, and what they think the armed forces can offer them. The multinational survey on which the analyses were based is part of a collaborative project conducted within the framework of the European Defense Agency on the impact of demographic change on the recruitment and retention of personnel in European armed forces.

With the demographic change taking place all over European societies, the number of young people entering the labor market is declining. As a result, the armed forces of Westernpostindustrial societies are facing severe recruitment problems and find themselves in ever more direct competition with the private sector to attract the best candidates. To offset the shrinking base of recruitment, they have to become more attractive to potential recruits and to increase the number of candidates in previously under-represented segments, particularly women. The paper presents selected results from an online survey carried out between Spring 2015 and December 2016 in 6 countries (Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland) among samples of young people. Following previous papers which dealt with the attractiveness of a military career among young people in general, and women and ethnic-cultural minorities in particular, this paper analyzes various factors that, presently, deter a lot of young women to consider joining the armed forces. The multinational survey on which the analyses are based is part of a collaborative research project conducted within the framework of the European Defense Agency on the impact of demographic change on the recruitment and retention of personnel in European armed forces.

The purpose of this study was to assess personality traits, psychological fitness, and hardiness among conscript soldiers volunteering for international missions (n = 146), by comparing them with conscripts from the same year class and unit who did not apply for international missions (n = 275). The sample consisted of all mandatory enlisted soldiers assigned to a supply and maintenance regiment. There were no demographic differences between the groups. The volunteers reported greater stress tolerance, concern for others, extraversion, and self-confidence than the non-volunteers. There were no differences between the groups in orderliness, temper instability, or independence. Volunteers repeatedly reported greater psychological fitness for military missions and greater hardiness over the period of military service compared to the non-volunteers.

By identifying components relevant to conscripts' success in and positive attitudes towards the military, we may be able to make it a more attractive employment option for current and future age-cohorts, thus solving the recruitment crisis not only in Sweden, but in several other European countries that have recently made the shift from conscription to an all-volunteer force. Precisely, this study aims to identify and examine conscripts' values and attitudes towards their mandatory tour of duty. The objective of this study is to analyze the components important to Swedish conscripts in order to determine what components should be included or emphasized in future military education programmes. Data were collected from 55,239 conscripts between 2002 and 2010 (when conscription was suspended in Sweden), using an anonymous course evaluation questionnaire. Data from 2002-2005 were combined and used as a baseline to compare against data from later years. Principal component analysis was conducted and resulted in 3 components being extracted for each year (except 2008, a year for which only 2 components were extracted). Those components were individual development, group cohesion, and competence/ state of readiness. The study's most important conclusion was that conscripts' attitudes and values were in line with those of younger generations and that a focus on these values may lead to the development of more attractive educational and career opportunities for today's youth.

The Preparatory Military Training (PMT) project, a labour market programme, resulted in 2012 from a collaboration between the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) and Public Employment Service (PES), with the former in the lead role as organizer. The project wanted to attract long-term unemployeds of non-EU immigrant extraction and prompt them to undertake ten weeks of training and practice in SAF facilities on a voluntary basis. The SAF's aim was essentially to incite them to enlist at a later stage so as to benefit from their expertise in non-European languages and cultures on international missions, and also to strengthen the SAF's image as an attractive employer. Implementation results showed that while PMT failed to attract as many participants as anticipated and to generate a significant number of later enlistments, it was successful in most other respects : the Swedish military managed to reach out to a much sought-after recruitment target group, and saw its image improve in the eyes of participants who were overall very satisfied with it, notably with the military part of the training. The Public Employment Service, for its part, regarded it as one of the most successful labour programmes ever conducted in Sweden as most participants found jobs or pursued further studies upon completion of PMT. Yet, the programme was discontinued after 2014, not least because of another round of military downsizing. But the recent reinstatement of conscription in Sweden will likely make the findings derived from it useful in making the armed forces more representative of society's diverse composition.

The purpose of this thesis was to study the prerequisites for the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) in order to recruit sufficient numbers of suitable individuals to the organization, and to retain those within the organization.

The thesis comprises three studies (Study 1-3) where Study One comprises data gathered, with a longitudinal design, when Sweden relied on conscription for the manning of the Armed Forces. Results show that those wanting to do international military service assessed themselves higher for required qualities than those individuals not volunteering for international military service. Study Two shows that job satisfaction, according to Hackman and Oldham´s Job satisfaction model, is higher when job characteristics are good, and they in turn affect the Critical Psychological States, as proposed by Hackman and Oldham. Study Three indicates that there is a relation between performance orientation, job characteristics, job satisfaction and retention. In sum, this thesis suggests that there are different incentives for recruiting and retaining personnel to a conscripted force, and an all-volunteer force. Furthermore, the thesis indicates that an all-volunteer force concept is not the best way of manning the armed forces, for Sweden and countries with similar society, size and likewise a critical geopolitical position.

The transition to an all-volunteer force in Sweden has meant that the Swedish armed forces (SAF) need to try different ways to recruit personnel. For countries that abandoned conscription, there have almost always arisen recruitment problems. The new direction for the SAF, going from an invasion based defense to a more operational defense force with international focus, puts demands on cultural awareness and language skills among soldiers and officers to another extent than before. In November 2012 the SAF, together with the Swedish Public Employment (SPES) Service, started a joint project called preparatory military training. The aim of this project was to attract 500 individuals with a cultural background from outside the European Union, and language skills in other languages than Swedish and English, to start a 10 weeks long preparatory military training. Preparatory military training aims at giving participants an insight into how a career in the armed forces would look like, as well as get the opportunity to develop academically. Out of these 500 individuals, the SAF aims at recruiting 300 individuals to start the basic military training in the SAF. All participants live at the military barracks and receive free meals and they are allowed paid travel home four times during the course and are paid activity support from the Swedish Public Employment Agency. Men and women live separately with separate facilities. The SAF and the SPES share 50 % of the education and training at the barracks.

Phase two of the project starts in the autumn of 2013 and aims at attracting 300 individuals to start the preparatory military training.

The paper assesses the effectiveness of this new and original project.

In the recruitment process for the three-year officer program (OP), it is a big dropout in the period from application to the start of the program. Because of this is, the OP has not been fully manned since 2008. To supply the Swedish Armed Forces with a sufficient number of officers are a priority and henceforth the SAF have a need for increasing the numbers of officers. Furthermore, a large number of retirements within the officer corps have also reduced the numbers of officers. In order to increase recruiting efficiency and increase the proportion of individuals who complete the entire recruitment process to OP, a project was launched at the Swedish Defence University designed to evaluate the recruitment into, and dropouts from the OP. Results carried out under the project shows that the earlier people jump out of the recruitment process, the older and more academically educated, they tend to be. Further, the results show that personal contact from officers and cadets already in the system has a positive relation on people’s willingness to complete the recruitment process. The project implemented a different recruitment strategy in 2016, the outcome showed that the percentage of applicants who started the program was higher than before, and the dropout rate was lower than ever.

The only way to become an officer in Sweden is to complete the three-year Officers’ Programme (OP). In the selection process for the OP, there is a large gap between the number of applicants and the number of individuals who start the programme. One consequence of this is that the OP has not been fully manned since 2008, thus leaving the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) with a shortage of officers. Manning the SAF with sufficient officers with the right qualifications is a priority, and henceforth the number of cadets must increase. Therefore, in 2014, a project was launched with the aim of examining recruitment to and selection for the OP, as well as identifying success factors and areas of improvement. An additional ambition was to introduce measures intended to increase recruiting efficiency based on the results, and the proportion of individuals who enter the OP.

The project led to the implementation of a different recruitment strategy in 2016 and 2017. Early in the selection process applicants were contacted by cadets already studying on the OP, and were invited to an information meeting at the Swedish Defence University. Those who were selected to start the OP were also contacted by their future platoon commanders, who provided useful information. The outcomes show that the numbers of cadets starting the OP increased, and the dropout rate during the selection process was lower than before.